JApan Strikes in the PAcific
Japan's quest for a Pacific Empire was interrupted by overcrowding within Japan and a severe shortage of raw materials; so they began a program of empire building that would lead to war while solving the problems and encouraging nationalism. While in their pursuit of becoming a stronger power, they fought many battles in the Pacific, like the biggest and most famous attack, Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was a place in Hawaii, where the Japanese held a surprise attack against the United States of America; and Japan ended up sinking 18 ships, nearly the entire U.S Pacific fleet. The day after Pearl Harbor, December 8, 1941, Congress declared war on Japan. Soon after Pearl Harbor, Japan had a series of victorious battles against the U.S, but by 1942, they had conquered about 1 million square miles of land with about 150 million people. Furthermore, the Allied powers (mainly Americans and Australians) started striking back against Japan's winning streak in the Pacific. The Battle of the Coral Sea was won by the Japanese, but the Allies managed to stop Japan's southward expansion for the first time. However, the Battle of Midway turned the tide of war against the Japanese: on Midway Island, west of Hawaii, Admiral Chester Nimitz and the American pilots destroyed 322 Japanese planes, a support ship and all four of the Japanese aircraft carriers. On June 6, 1942, the Allies declared themselves victorious against the Japanese for the first time, when Yamamoto, the Admiral in the Battle of Midway ordered his troops to withdraw.
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1942: Japanese beaten in Battle of Midway- The Battle of Midway took a great toll on the amount of victories Japan was receiving; however, the Americans achieved many victories in the battle on the island of Midway, west of Hawaii. This battle caused the Japanese to lose many people and planes, while the Americans received much less damage but did achieve partial revenge for Pearl Harbor, "Fighting is still continuing in the area, but although Admiral Nimitz stopped short of claiming the Japanese were defeated, he said, "a momentous victory is in the making."He went on, "Pearl Harbor has now been partially avenged."
Understanding Pearl Harbor-
Pearl Harbor is often misunderstood by the Western World: the options were discussed in Japan for over five months, and the majority decided against the attack, and most of the Japanese viewed Russia as more of a threat than America. Also, the Japanese would trust themselves into an unsafe position where they might be attacked back and lose many of their own soldiers, so nothing added up. However, the Japanese were feeling unsafe and insecure, "The second world war in the Pacific finally came about for many different reasons. But it was, above all, the sense of encirclement and humiliation that united the deeply divided Japanese government. Feeling defeated by a series of failed approaches to the US, including an overture to hold direct talks with Roosevelt, prime minister Fumimaro Konoe resigned on October 16, making hard-line army minister Hideki Tōjō his successor."
The significance of Pearl Harbour to America and the second world war-
Pearl Harbor not only destroyed the base on American soil, it also helped America realize that they needed to go against Japan that were threatening their power and safety. Furthermore, Japan's effect on Pearl Harbor in a single day jolted the American's defense because they were in danger of being upstaged by the Japanese, "Congress and the nation are behind the great president and world leader who at this time has been raised up for them and mankind. The United States know at last that their former domestic immunity, so long secured to them by the breadth of two main oceans, has disappeared. They know that all their being and well-being are at stake like our own. "
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC-
Japan's desires to become a stronger country was because of their severe shortages of oil and other natural resources, and that drove the desire to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, and start the Pacific war, and specifically, Pearl Harbor, "Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Japan."
Japan's Plan- Japan planned to fight against America in Pearl Harbor because they didn't want any intervention while th eJapanese were trying to build a solid empire in Asia. Furthermore, "And although the Japanese government never believed it could defeat the United States, it did intend to negotiate an end to the war on favorable terms. It hoped that by attacking the fleet at Pearl Harbor it could delay American intervention, gaining time to solidify its Asian empire. Then it planned to fight a decisive battle that would bloody American forces, forcing the U.S. to negotiate a peace and leave Japan's old order, the emperor and the military government, in power."
1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor-
While launching the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor, Japan also managed to declare war on Britain and the United States;
Within two hours, six battleships had been sunk, another 112 vessels sunk or damaged, and 164 aircrafts were destroyed, "He remembered that moment [Pearl Harbor] in later years as the end of one existence and the beginning of another"
Pearl Harbor: Hawaii Was Surprised; FDR Was Not
The suprise attack on an American base in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, launched war against Japan. However, most people think that no Americans had any knowledge of this, but, "Comprehensive research has shown not only that Washington knew in advance of the attack, but that it deliberately withheld its foreknowledge from our commanders in Hawaii in the hope that the "surprise" attack would catapult the U.S. into World War II. Oliver Lyttleton, British Minister of Production, stated in 1944: "Japan was provoked into attacking America at Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty of history to say that America was forced into the war.""
The Costs of War
The Allied powers waged a ling battle in the Pacific ocean against Japan starting in 1943; and the battles killed huge amounts of people, both civilians and soldiers. Consequently, so many human lives were lost form both sides, that it is hard to keep track, "As American forces won territory ever nearer to Japan, military planners on both sides used casualty figures to construct their strategies. The Japanese intended to resist at all costs, deploying pilots as suicide missiles and expecting civilians to face invaders with sharpened bamboo sticks. Numerous Japanese citizens would be sacrificed, in this plan, to achieve better terms for peace."
This week in history: The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a crucial battle to change the Japanese approach to war, and destroy any tactics they had used in the previous wars in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese lost all of their fleets, and were greatly wounded, "Japan would never again enjoy such naval superiority, and thus lost the strategic initiative for the rest of the war. As Hanson writes: “During the four years of the war the Americans constructed 16 major warships for every one the Japanese built.” Simply put, Japan could not make good its losses. The United States could."
Midway: The Story That Never Ends
The Battle of Midway's affects still go on today, the win of the Allied powers and the leak will forever be very controversial and be discussed, "The story, datelined Washington, began: "The capital received tonight official word that United States forces were scoring a crushing victory over Japanese naval units in the greatest air-sea battle fought thus far in World War II." Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, added in a communiqué dated 6 June: "Pearl Harbor has now been partially avenged."
Understanding Pearl Harbor-
Pearl Harbor is often misunderstood by the Western World: the options were discussed in Japan for over five months, and the majority decided against the attack, and most of the Japanese viewed Russia as more of a threat than America. Also, the Japanese would trust themselves into an unsafe position where they might be attacked back and lose many of their own soldiers, so nothing added up. However, the Japanese were feeling unsafe and insecure, "The second world war in the Pacific finally came about for many different reasons. But it was, above all, the sense of encirclement and humiliation that united the deeply divided Japanese government. Feeling defeated by a series of failed approaches to the US, including an overture to hold direct talks with Roosevelt, prime minister Fumimaro Konoe resigned on October 16, making hard-line army minister Hideki Tōjō his successor."
The significance of Pearl Harbour to America and the second world war-
Pearl Harbor not only destroyed the base on American soil, it also helped America realize that they needed to go against Japan that were threatening their power and safety. Furthermore, Japan's effect on Pearl Harbor in a single day jolted the American's defense because they were in danger of being upstaged by the Japanese, "Congress and the nation are behind the great president and world leader who at this time has been raised up for them and mankind. The United States know at last that their former domestic immunity, so long secured to them by the breadth of two main oceans, has disappeared. They know that all their being and well-being are at stake like our own. "
WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC-
Japan's desires to become a stronger country was because of their severe shortages of oil and other natural resources, and that drove the desire to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, and start the Pacific war, and specifically, Pearl Harbor, "Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Japan."
Japan's Plan- Japan planned to fight against America in Pearl Harbor because they didn't want any intervention while th eJapanese were trying to build a solid empire in Asia. Furthermore, "And although the Japanese government never believed it could defeat the United States, it did intend to negotiate an end to the war on favorable terms. It hoped that by attacking the fleet at Pearl Harbor it could delay American intervention, gaining time to solidify its Asian empire. Then it planned to fight a decisive battle that would bloody American forces, forcing the U.S. to negotiate a peace and leave Japan's old order, the emperor and the military government, in power."
1941: Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor-
While launching the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor, Japan also managed to declare war on Britain and the United States;
Within two hours, six battleships had been sunk, another 112 vessels sunk or damaged, and 164 aircrafts were destroyed, "He remembered that moment [Pearl Harbor] in later years as the end of one existence and the beginning of another"
Pearl Harbor: Hawaii Was Surprised; FDR Was Not
The suprise attack on an American base in Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, launched war against Japan. However, most people think that no Americans had any knowledge of this, but, "Comprehensive research has shown not only that Washington knew in advance of the attack, but that it deliberately withheld its foreknowledge from our commanders in Hawaii in the hope that the "surprise" attack would catapult the U.S. into World War II. Oliver Lyttleton, British Minister of Production, stated in 1944: "Japan was provoked into attacking America at Pearl Harbor. It is a travesty of history to say that America was forced into the war.""
The Costs of War
The Allied powers waged a ling battle in the Pacific ocean against Japan starting in 1943; and the battles killed huge amounts of people, both civilians and soldiers. Consequently, so many human lives were lost form both sides, that it is hard to keep track, "As American forces won territory ever nearer to Japan, military planners on both sides used casualty figures to construct their strategies. The Japanese intended to resist at all costs, deploying pilots as suicide missiles and expecting civilians to face invaders with sharpened bamboo sticks. Numerous Japanese citizens would be sacrificed, in this plan, to achieve better terms for peace."
This week in history: The Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a crucial battle to change the Japanese approach to war, and destroy any tactics they had used in the previous wars in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese lost all of their fleets, and were greatly wounded, "Japan would never again enjoy such naval superiority, and thus lost the strategic initiative for the rest of the war. As Hanson writes: “During the four years of the war the Americans constructed 16 major warships for every one the Japanese built.” Simply put, Japan could not make good its losses. The United States could."
Midway: The Story That Never Ends
The Battle of Midway's affects still go on today, the win of the Allied powers and the leak will forever be very controversial and be discussed, "The story, datelined Washington, began: "The capital received tonight official word that United States forces were scoring a crushing victory over Japanese naval units in the greatest air-sea battle fought thus far in World War II." Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, added in a communiqué dated 6 June: "Pearl Harbor has now been partially avenged."
PRIMARY SOURCES
(1.) Several days after the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on Japan, Secretary of State James Byrnes drafted the following letter to a Swiss diplomat serving as an intermediary in negotiations with the Japanese. At issue in the terms dictating the end of the war was the Japanese emperor's status and authority, which the Japanese had expended many months -- and many lives -- trying to preserve.
August 11, 1945
Sir:
I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your note of August 10, and in reply to inform you that the President of the United States has directed me to send to you for transmission by your Government to the Japanese Government the following message on behalf of the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China:
"With regard to the Japanese Government's message accepting the terms of the Potsdam proclamation but containing the statement, 'with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a sovereign ruler,' our position is as follows:
"From the moment of surrender the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate the surrender terms."
Letter from James Byrnes to Max Grasali, charge d'affaires ad interim of Switzerland. August 11, 1945. Source: Truman Library.
(2)President Harry Truman's diary is one source historians have evaluated for information about his decisions at the end of World War II. Read this excerpt written in mid-June, while the Battle of Okinawa was drawing to a close and Truman and his advisers were discussing a Japan invasion plan.June 17 '45
The White House Washington
Went down the River today on the [presidential yacht] Potomac to discuss plan, issues, and decisions. Took [press secretary] Charlie Ross, straight thinker, honest man who tells me the truth so I understand what he means; [staff aide] Matt Connelly, shrewd Irishman, who raises up the chips and shows me the bugs, honest, fair, "diplomatic" with me; [former congressman and director of the office of war mobilization and reconversion] Judge Fred Vinson, straight shooter, knows Congress and how they think, a man to trust; [special counsel and speechwriter] Judge [Samuel] Rosenman, one of the best in Washington, keen mind, a lucid pen, a loyal Roosevelt man and an equally loyal Truman man; [former White House press secretary] Steve Early, a keen observer, political and otherwise, has acted as my hatchet man, absolutely loyal and trustworthy, same can be said as about Rosenman.
We discussed public relations in Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, England, and Russia. Food, fuel, transportation and what to do about it. Japanese War and the relations with China, Russia and Britain with regard to it, Supreme Commander [Douglas MacArthur] and what to do with Mr. Prima Donna, brass hat, Five Star McArthur. He's worse than the Cabots and the Lodges -- they at least talked with one another before they told God what to do. Mc tells God right off. It is a very great pity we have to have Stuffed Shirts like that in key positions. I don't see why in Hell [President Franklin] Roosevelt didn't order [General Jonathan] Wainwright home and let McArthur be a martyr, guess he was afraid of the Sabotage Press-McCormick-Patterson Axis. We'd have had a real general and a fighting man if we had Wainwright and not a play actor and a bunco man such as we have now.
Don't see how a country can produce such men as Robert E. Lee, John Pershing, [Dwight] Eisenhower, [Omar] Bradley and at the same time produce [George] Custers, [George] Pattons and [Douglas] McArthurs.
I have to decide Japanese strategy -- shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts. So you see we talk about more that [sic] "Cabbages + Kings and Sealing wax and things..."
Handwritten diary pages of Harry Truman, on White House stationery. Source: The Truman Library.
August 11, 1945
Sir:
I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your note of August 10, and in reply to inform you that the President of the United States has directed me to send to you for transmission by your Government to the Japanese Government the following message on behalf of the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China:
"With regard to the Japanese Government's message accepting the terms of the Potsdam proclamation but containing the statement, 'with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a sovereign ruler,' our position is as follows:
"From the moment of surrender the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate the surrender terms."
Letter from James Byrnes to Max Grasali, charge d'affaires ad interim of Switzerland. August 11, 1945. Source: Truman Library.
(2)President Harry Truman's diary is one source historians have evaluated for information about his decisions at the end of World War II. Read this excerpt written in mid-June, while the Battle of Okinawa was drawing to a close and Truman and his advisers were discussing a Japan invasion plan.June 17 '45
The White House Washington
Went down the River today on the [presidential yacht] Potomac to discuss plan, issues, and decisions. Took [press secretary] Charlie Ross, straight thinker, honest man who tells me the truth so I understand what he means; [staff aide] Matt Connelly, shrewd Irishman, who raises up the chips and shows me the bugs, honest, fair, "diplomatic" with me; [former congressman and director of the office of war mobilization and reconversion] Judge Fred Vinson, straight shooter, knows Congress and how they think, a man to trust; [special counsel and speechwriter] Judge [Samuel] Rosenman, one of the best in Washington, keen mind, a lucid pen, a loyal Roosevelt man and an equally loyal Truman man; [former White House press secretary] Steve Early, a keen observer, political and otherwise, has acted as my hatchet man, absolutely loyal and trustworthy, same can be said as about Rosenman.
We discussed public relations in Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, England, and Russia. Food, fuel, transportation and what to do about it. Japanese War and the relations with China, Russia and Britain with regard to it, Supreme Commander [Douglas MacArthur] and what to do with Mr. Prima Donna, brass hat, Five Star McArthur. He's worse than the Cabots and the Lodges -- they at least talked with one another before they told God what to do. Mc tells God right off. It is a very great pity we have to have Stuffed Shirts like that in key positions. I don't see why in Hell [President Franklin] Roosevelt didn't order [General Jonathan] Wainwright home and let McArthur be a martyr, guess he was afraid of the Sabotage Press-McCormick-Patterson Axis. We'd have had a real general and a fighting man if we had Wainwright and not a play actor and a bunco man such as we have now.
Don't see how a country can produce such men as Robert E. Lee, John Pershing, [Dwight] Eisenhower, [Omar] Bradley and at the same time produce [George] Custers, [George] Pattons and [Douglas] McArthurs.
I have to decide Japanese strategy -- shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts. So you see we talk about more that [sic] "Cabbages + Kings and Sealing wax and things..."
Handwritten diary pages of Harry Truman, on White House stationery. Source: The Truman Library.